In preparation for these tests one of my main roles is to encourage kids to give their best effort. I can do this by:
- Impressing upon them the importance of the tests to them as individuals.
- Impressing upon them the importance of the tests to us as a school.
- Telling them that these tests are accurate, well designed, measures of their educational progress that give them important feedback as to their individual growth.
- Telling them that their performance on these tests will significantly impact their future educational pursuits and the course of their lives.
These are ways to intrinsically motivate students to take these tests seriously and give their best effort. There is just one problem.....
I don't believe any of it.
I believe that most standardized tests, ITEDs included, are outdated, narrow, and drastically inaccurate measures of anything. I do not believe they measure any meaningful learning beyond rudimentary basics, and of course, how to use an atlas (which we all know no 21st century learner can survive without.)
The only part of the above that does hold some truth is the idea that these tests are important to our district. They are important because they are used by our government to measure our schools progress. They stand as the only true measuring stick our state and federal governments use to determine how good (or bad) our school is. I can't begin to describe how ludicrous that is. The "quality" of a teacher, building, or district can not possibly be measured by 6 hours of annual multiple choice testing.
The mission of our school district is " We will prepare each learner with the knowledge and skills necessary for a productive life in a changing world." I LOVE our mission statement. It is deep, it is relevant, and it is worthy of the hours of time our dedicated staff puts into completing it. It CANNOT be measured by any bubble sheet or scantron machine in the world. I refuse to boil the quality of our school down to a single battery of standardized tests and the fact that my state and nation are willing to do so troubles me deeply.
I will encourage our students to do their best. I believe we should always do our best in all situations. I however, will not lie. I will not make these tests into something they are not, or should not be. I will not let them define our students, teachers, aides, or anyone else.
I cheered No Child Left Behind when it came into being. I was not alone. Great minds like Diane Ravitch, whose book "The Death and Life of the Great American School System" I am currently reading, also embraced the movement to raise standards and implement accountability. However I, like Ravitch, have watched over the past 10 years as this law has done the opposite of what we had hoped it would do. It has created a myopic, punitive climate of fear as schools sacrifice deep, rich, true, learning at the altar of high stakes testing. Many schools across the country have slashed programs, altered curriculum, and turned a generation of students into great test takers, who don't really understand much of anything. I am proud to say our school has not. We will survive this era intact and with allegiance to our true educational mission.
I long for the era of No Child Left Behind to come to an end. I hope that as the pendulum swings once again, this time it will land in an place created by educators rather than legislators. Until that time, I will encourage and empower my staff and students to teach, learn, discuss, explore, and experience. Which ITED subtest will measure that?
I hear you. My students have ITBS this week, and I feel the same way. Not sure a test can ever test what we hope students learn.
ReplyDeleteBlogging about this is a great first step, Brian, for someone in your position. What's next? Is there anything that can be accomplished by a group of administrators (and teachers) who band together to let the legislature know that high-stakes testing doesn't work?
ReplyDeleteI will encourage our students to do their best. I believe we should always do our best in all situations.
This is the same attitude I take with my students. I tell them, "I won't be bringing in cookies for those who meet growth targets or anything like that. I expect you to do your best on these tests just like I expect you to do your best on everything we do. That's it. No more. No less." And that's that.
I lump standardized testing in with schedules and grades and all the other stuff we do to ourselves. When talking to other schools about PLCs, for example, and how PLCs cannot be an event or a meeting, and how a high-functioning PLC has time built into the schedule to meet formally and informally when there is a need to get together. The most common response to building common time into the schedule is, "The schedule won't allow it."
We are the ones who create the schedule! It's hard for me to have sympathy for folks who get stopped by self-created barriers.
I've digressed here, but I'm curious on your thoughts as an administrator regarding self-created barriers.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteWell said! We are very willing, as a culture, to reduce difficult and challenging things to a single number - that we can declare "winners" and "losers." Learning and achievement is not, and has never been, measureable as you say so eloquently.
ITBS/ITED continues to forward the myth that some types of learning is more important than other types - leaving many kids who are smart feeling like idiots. Learning is dynamic, contextual, interrelated, and non-linear. Learning is an emergent property - it can't be seen, felt, touched, tasted, or heard directly. We can only see its manifestations - leaving us to figure out how many "manifestations" and at what quality "count" as learned.
I could never see how much Larry Bird knew about being a basketball player - but I could, through observation and performance, conclude that he must be pretty learned. A standardized test would have only showed me what information he knew about the game - the rules, someone else's interpretation of the best option among 4 in light of a decontextualized scenario, how to deal with a player who does "X", etc.
I'm with Russ - how do we finally stand up and say, "ENOUGH!!" - here is how we are going to validate learning?
-Trace Pickering
Russ, I agree, self-created barriers are everywhere in education. We also tend to say "we can't do that" because of (fill in the blank) whether that be the schedule, the contract, the school board, the Department of Ed, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason for most these self-created barriers is maintaining the status quo. Change - real change, is uncomfortable, unsettling, and hard, even for progressive educators (like I purport to be). The "generalized other" (to use sociology speak [I am using my undergrad degree!!] makes it easy for us to say what we would do if we could. It is almost like self-sabotage. Sometimes it is easier to sit around and say what we would do if we could (which we can't because of (fill in the blank)) rather than actually doing it.
Fear of failure is another building block of self-created barriers. We like to say, failure is good, try new things, but I wonder if we truly believe it. If we change the barrier, like the schedule for example, and what we try doesn't work, we are less likely to try again.
It takes a willingness to reexamine EVERYTHING at ALL LEVELS of a school, from student, to parent, to teacher, to admin, to board to realize true change and really try something new. In many cases it also takes a willingness at even higher levels like the Board of Ed Examiners and the DOE.
That being said it has to start somewhere. If we don't start, it won't get done.
Spent the day with Jason Glass as a part of a Leadership Think Tank of which I am blessed to be a part. You may know that he has been collecting information from Iowans through three pretty solid questions (To learn more click here: http://educationelements.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/three-questions-for-iowa/)
ReplyDeleteAs a part of the conversation today it is clear that he has heard the message loud and clear from Iowans - we really dislike ITBS and ITED. Not because of the accountability issue, as an Iowan I believe that we welcome accountability, but rather due to the whole conversation about what those tests "really" measure in light of the 21st century needs of our students. His emphasis as part of his vision (better described as our vision based on real and anecdotal data he is collecting) for Iowa is that we get serious about curriculum and assessment and measures that really mean something for student learning and organizational improvement.
It is also clear that he has a desire to build a coalition of the willing focused on improvement and innovation. This coalition is intended to include those of us within the education system and those without who truly want to improve and innovate in Iowa so that our students are better prepared for their future. So in response to some of the ruminations here, I am hopeful that we can make a solid education state better through the work of dedicated and thoughtful leaders and learners at all layers in our system.
I believe that Iowa can do this!
Brad, great news! I like a lot of what I am hearing from Jason. I look forward to meeting him in person at some point. The coalition of the willing is key. I know leaders in our district and countless others are eager to be a part of this discussion. The future of education in Iowa is bright indeed!
ReplyDelete